A Valentine's Day story

[AFJ]

http://www.wheels.ca/reviews/article/784432

AFJ

[Paps]

Awesome Story ! I really enjoyed it. Paps

[Barry Brown]

Good one Al. Nicer times back then in many ways. Interesting , the Indian sidecar on the Harley the exact opposite of what the Washington DC Parks service ( presidential escort bikes) did with their 53 Chiefs when they couldn't get sidecars from the floundering Indian factory, .. they used Harley sidecars!

[AFJ]

Barry,
If you look closely at the forks on the '46 UL you can see Ed's addition of an automotive shock absorber to give a hydraulic boost to the H-D springer front end.

On the sidecar is a Mack truck "Bulldog".

AFJ

[Chris Haynes]

Barry,
If you look closely at the forks on the '46 UL you can see Ed's addition of an automotive shock absorber to give a hydraulic boost to the H-D springer front end.

On the sidecar is a Mack truck "Bulldog".

AFJ

That looks to be a shock from an XA. Can't tell but he might have a complete XA fork on it.

[AFJ]

That looks to be a shock from an XA. Can't tell but he might have a complete XA fork on it.

Ed Given, the fellow on the bike in the picture, told me when I was doing the interview with him for the article, that the shock is a car item on which he altered the damping and spring rate to improve the Harley's ride.

As far as I know there were only a few, perhaps as many as 5, XA H-Ds sent to the Canadian military in 1942 for evaluation. From photographs available to me, none of them were fitted either with the shock damper or with the telescopic fork.

Vard forks were a desirable upgrade around 1950, according to Ed, but he did his own adaptation.

AFJ

[koanes]

I was going to comment on how refreshing it was to read a story like that, where the gentleman being interviewed had clear memories and the reporter didn't muddy the story with extra BS and now we know why. Thanks for the good story and good work AFJ.

[flat-happy]

now that's a great story. i remember those days and was the recipient of many good deeds from harley dealers such as this. Harold Paradis helped me out many times on my way back home late at night. he liked to play guitar and sometimes i would show up at his shop at midnight on my way back home from somewhere. there were no awful house restaurants back then and he would give me something to eat and we would sit around and sing and play till the early morning hours. his shop was in augusta maine. that was before the bean counters took over the moco and they slammed the door in everyone's face at 5PM. thank you for that story

[Chuck#1848]

Great to read this type of story AFJ, I still pass through Port Colburn and Welland on route 3 from Buffalo to Detroit to visit my Family in the Detroit area.
This will give me something to think about this couple traveling in a sidecar rig to Daytona as I pass through those towns, I wish them both well

[c.o.]

That is a great story Al! Thanks for posting it. One never quite knows the adventure they may encounter on a motorsicle trip and these folks certainly had one. It was a refreshing read on this Sunday morning!

[AFJ]

Great to read this type of story AFJ, I still pass through Port Colburn and Welland on route 3 from Buffalo to Detroit to visit my Family in the Detroit area.
This will give me something to think about this couple traveling in a sidecar rig to Daytona as I pass through those towns, I wish them both well

On Kings Highway # 3 just east of the town of Port Colborne you will pass through the crossroads signposted as "Gasline" where Ed lives. He still has a motorcycle.

AFJ

[rbenash]

Really enjoyed the story - thanks for posting.